Among Riches and Royals
by ShadowRoseDarkBlade
Summary: Years ago, Altea fell to a mysterious enemy. Now, its sister kingdom Ocendia is faced with a similar enemy, ... but is it who they think? Can the thought-dead Prince sort everything out before it's too late? Warning: OC's included.


A/N: Well, I'm back with another story

FE: And me, with my plushies!

SR: Anyways, this story was inspired by the Krondor series by Raymond E. Feist. And yes, it is a real

FE: *applauds loudly*

SR: It was also inspired by another story called Service With a Smirk. Some of the things in this story were inspired by

FE: Yay.

SR: So yeah.

FE: Aaaaaaannnnd?

SR: What?

FE: You're obviously dedicating this story to me, right?!

SR: Not on your life.

FE: & In other news, I as a Beta Reader have an announcement.

SR: Let me. I am still working on Secret Self.

FE: Correcation, the Beta Reader, *tears* is lagging on the updates of that story, but Secret Self is not at all discontinued. It is just a very long process. Thank you for your understanding.

Disclaimer: I don't own any SSB or Pokemon. FE owns Pokemon plushies though. To put it simply, I own nothing & yet.

Chapter One: Prologue

The fire was spreading quickly. The High King and his servant were seeking to escape the flames, running side by side in hope of escape. The king carried a silver blade in its scabbard and a pearl-like sphere that emitted energy, while his servant carried a small blue bundle. The king unsheathed his sword then pulled out the sphere. He threw the sphere into the air and cried,

"Rayquaza, come forth!" The green dragon seemed to appear from nowhere. Just as the king and his servant were about to climb aboard the beast, a dark boar-like figure slammed into the dragon, causing the dragon to stumble and fall. Just as quickly as it had appeared, the boar disappeared. The king turned to see a group of five coming his way.

"You traitors, what is the meaning of this?"

"This land is ours." The leader proclaimed with an evil smirk upon his features.

"The Guardians would not allow this!" the King said, with not a hint of hesitation, only determination evident in his voice.

"The Guardians cannot stand in our way." The appointed leader said.

"Rayquaza, Hyperbeam!" the king ordered of his dragon. The dragon rose once more and launched his attack. This caused the group to scatter, alarmed. When the blast cleared, the group discovered that the King was gone.

"Dammit!" the leader shouted. One of his fellow companions reassured him,

"Oh well, we can still take the land once the castle falls." He nodded in agreement. The group disappeared into the smoke and was gone.

The king and his servant ran as fast as they could. They eventually reached a dead end. Turning to his companion, the King asked,

"Well, got any ideas?" The young boy shook his head, clutching the small blue bundle protectively. The king sighed.

"You're ten, of course you wouldn't." He looked around and spotted a wall.

"Rayquaza, Hyperbeam!" He was positive that the wall led to an escape.

As the wall gave way, the trio managed to scramble outside. They all took deep breaths of the fresh air. The king looked at his young helper.

"You did well. You never screamed or cried, when it was expected that you would. I'm proud of you." He ruffled the boy's hair.

"What now, M'lord?" the boy asked, looking back at the burning reckage of the castle.

"Well, I believe our sister kingdom Oc-" The king fell silent. The boy turned back to look at his master. His eyes grew wide as he faced a man that had been run through with a sword. It was his king, and the attacker had been a coward and ran.

The boy, not really understanding what he was seeing, shook the king.

"Highness?" he asked. A barely audible response issued from the man.

"Take him. The boy. Raise him any way but that of his blood. Learn how to fight," the King coughed.

"Then teach him. Keep him safe, and raise him well." He smiled weakly.

"I'm glad Alicia picked the littlest one." He petted the boy's head weakly.

"I promise," The boy said bravely. He took the king's hand, trying to hold back his tears.

"I know ... I know I'm asking a lot of such a young one but please guard him well. I know ... I know you can do it." A small smile crossed the king's face.

"But do me a favor. Don't spoil him ... if it has to be that way, keep him away from the castle." The king was growing weaker, his breaths becoming more like gasps of air.

"Good luck ... little cub ... ah, what was it? Arthur?" The boy nodded. Hearing his name made it hurt so much worse. He had come to know the king as a good man, almost a father figure.

"What should I name him?" Arthur asked of his dying master. Tears now flowed freely from the boy's eyes.

"M-m-arth." The King managed to gasp out with his last breath. The King's eyes closed, to forever remain that way.

The boy was about to start sobbing in earnest when a small cry came from the small blue bundle. Arthur dropped the man's hand and gently rocked the baby boy. With a quiet sob, he said,

"It's okay. It'll be okay." He reassured the baby. After a while, Arthur managed to rock the baby to sleep. Upon seeing the small chibi face, he smiled. Arthur felt the snout of the dragon as it nudged his master. He didn't seem to understand that he had just lost him forever. With a small roar, Rayquaza peeked at the baby. He nudged the small child and it responded with a small, sleepy pat.

The boy looked at the figure on the ground. He picked up the blade and sheathed it. He finally turned and was gone, knowing that whoever had done this had no idea his target had a son and a servant.

The dragon followed Arthur until the same mysterious boar tackled him from out of nowhere. It knocked the dragon back into the lake, never to resurface. Taking this as his cue to leave, Arthur ran as fast as he could to the city, to be eventually be lost from any prying eyes.

A black-armored clad group of men saw him and were about to attack when an explosion hit, forcing them to look away. As Arthur kept running, a strong arm wrapped about his waist and pulled him into a small hidden alley.

"What are you doing running around, kid? You do know this is the time when the guards come out the most." The stranger said as he released the boy.

"I'm lost ... I mean ... I have nowhere to go." Arthur put it simply. The stranger nodded.

"Name's Solidus, but I would prefer it if you called me Snake." Snake appeared to be in his early teens, if not older.

"So what's your name, small fry?" Snake asked.

" ... Ike." Arthur lied quickly.

"Well Ike, who is that?" Snake pointed to the bundle in his arms.

A/N: Well there you go. If you can't tell this is an AU. Yes, Snake is a street rat, but hey, what are you going to do?

FE: Bawl over the death of the king. *sniffle*

SRDB: Oh, get over it. Anyways, the story will get better, I promise.

FE: That's what you said about Secret Self, and I cried about that too.

SRDB: ... These are my stories, remember that. They can only get as good as I can get.

FE: Meaning?

SR: Don't get your hopes up. Well, please read and review.

FE: Shadow Rose?

SR: Yes?

FE: Hold me?

SR: Read and review. *sympathy pat*

~Both Authoresses


End file.
